Named Professorships and Chairs

These endowed positions enable CSU to recruit outstanding scholars, teachers and researchers in the field of Chemistry.

Marshall Fixman and Branka Ladanyi College Professorship in Chemistry Endowment

The Marshall Fixman and Branka Ladanyi College Professorship in Chemistry Endowment was created in memory of long-time chemistry faculty members Marshall Fixman and Branka Ladanyi. The fund will be used to honor their legacies and expended in ways that support the spirit of the contribution they made to science, including enhancing international collaborations, supporting graduate students and undergraduate research, or any other expenses directly associated with enhancing the education, research, and service mission of the professorship position.

Fixman, a University Distinguished Professor Emeritus, joined the CSU faculty in 1979 with his wife, Branka Ladanyi. Throughout his career, Fixman worked fundamental problems in polymer physical chemistry. He continually expanded and improved physical theories and mathematical techniques. Professor Fixman earned many honors, including ACS Pure Chemistry, ACS Award in Polymer Chemistry, APS High Polymer Prize, and election to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Through his personal interactions and writings, he taught and inspired several generations of theoretical physical chemists.

Ladanyi was the only female faculty member in the department for the first eight years she was at CSU. Ladanyi was a faculty member of exceptional talent, a pioneer in her field and for women in academia. Over her career, she contributed profoundly to the theory and modeling of liquids, supercritical fluids, and molecular clusters. Ladanyi demonstrated leadership as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Chemical Physics and in ACS and APS executive committees.

A biographical memoir of Fixman has been written on the National Academy of Sciences’ website to honor his life and career.

Dr. Robert Williams Chair in Organic Chemistry Endowment

Dr. Robert Williams has had an extraordinary research and teaching career at Colorado State University. To honor his work and continue his research legacy, the College of Natural Sciences seeks to establish the Dr. Robert Williams Endowed Chair in Chemistry.

Dr. Williams has been dedicated to involving many students in his research through the Williams Research Group, training successive generations of scientists who are making their own marks in bio-organic chemistry and biosynthesis. His students have gone on to careers as scientists at pharmaceutical companies and as educators. “I love watching students become scientists,” Dr. Williams has said. “By the time they are done here, they’re ready to take on the world, and that’s very satisfying.”

The Dr. Robert Williams Endowed Chair in Chemistry will allow Colorado State University to recruit to the College of Natural Sciences, an established organic chemist or chemical biologist who is an outstanding scholar, gifted teacher, and exceptional researcher, who has made significant contributions to his or her field of study. Attracting and retaining top scholars and researchers allows Colorado State to recruit the best undergraduate and graduate students from Colorado, the nation, and around the world. A faculty member who is awarded the Dr. Robert Williams Endowed Chair in Chemistry will bring ongoing prestige to the University through research, mentoring, published works, and speaking engagements.

Please join us with a gift to support the Dr. Robert Williams Endowed Chair in Chemistry, and continue the legacy of teaching, mentoring, and groundbreaking research conducted by Dr. Williams, his colleagues, and his undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students.

CSU featured a video congratulating Dr. Robert Williams and highlighting the establishment of this new Endowed Chair in Chemistry.

Albert I. Meyers Chair in Chemistry Endowment

This endowed chair is named in honor of Albert Meyers, a University Distinguished Professor Emeritus who served at Colorado State for more than 30 years. It recognizes his outstanding contributions to the Department of Chemistry and ensures that his tradition of outstanding leadership continues at the university. This chair provides fund to enhance teaching, research and industry outreached. Income from the chair provides additional resources to enhance the program and fund research, conferences, distinguished visitors and graduate and undergraduate support.

John K. Stille Chair in Chemistry Endowment

This endowed chair is named in honor of John K. Stille, one of CSU’s first University Distinguished Professors One of the world’s foremost synthetic polymer chemists, Stille pioneered research in synthetic, polymer, and organometallic chemistry and developed a highly cited and widely used palladium-catalyzed cross-coupling reaction involving organotin compounds that bears his name. Stille’s research was cut short with his death on July 19, 1989, in the crash of United Airlines 232 in Sioux City, Iowa. Income from the chairs provides additional resources to fund research in Organic Chemistry.